Uanitas Promissorum
by SlytherinHousePrefect
Summary: Drarry. 8th Year Fic. It's been a year since the Battle of Hogwarts, and the school was finally open to students again. The seventh year students who had taken part in the war were invited back to finish their education. However, no one was more surprised than Draco when he receives a letter too.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: It's been a year since the Battle of Hogwarts, and the school was finally open to students again. The seventh year students who had taken part in the war were invited back to finish their education. However, no one was more surprised than Draco when he receives a letter too.**

 **Pairing(s): Draco/Harry (Drarry).**

 **Genre: Friendship.**

* * *

 **A/N: This is my first Harry Potter fic! I grew up with Harry Potter and I finally decided to rewatch all the movies, and I was hit with so many feels and everything (I definitely cried a lot). I, unfortunately, have not read the books (because I don't own them and I don't like reading books online), so any kind of Harry Potter thing I write will be based on the movies and not the books. To help me get to know things better and such, I've been doing a lot of research on the Harry Potter Wikia, and I feel like that's helped a lot. So a lot of stuff will also be based on the things I've also read on the Harry Potter Wikia.  
**

 **I've never written anything to with Harry Potter before, so I am terribly sorry if I write any of the characters wrong or I don't do things a certain way.**

 **Practice makes perfect, right?**

 **But while this is my first Harry Potter fic, it's also my first _Drarry_ one. I wasn't going to do this because I know certain people like to see Drarry a certain way and get pissed if it isn't their way, but like I've said before, I'm doing this for me and I'm doing it because writing is a safe place for me.**

 **I've always wanted to do a Drarry (or any kind of Harry Potter) fic before, and I've only now just gotten the courage to write one after what had been said to me a few years back.  
**

 **But I do hope people enjoy it, and I'm sorry if it isn't up to your strandards, or if I don't play characters a certain way or something. Like I said, this is my first time doing this and I have tried my best! I also wrote this from 1 am til 6 am, so I'm sorry if there any errors and such!  
**

 **Also, Uanitas Promissorum means 'Empty Promises' in Latin (I think). I looked it up on Google, that's what it said. It was the only thing I could think as a title for this fic because I'm bad with titles, so if I think of a new one, I might end up changing it, I don't know yet.**

* * *

Draco had no intention of going back to Hogwarts ever again, even if it was just for a visit.

Not after everything that had happened - everything he had done. An he certainly didn't want to face those he had betrayed.

So, when he had received a letter from none other than 'Headmistress Minerva McGonagall' a few weeks ago, he was genuinely surprised. The letter simply explained that Seventh year students who had taken part in the war could return to the school to retake their Seventh year, but only if they wished to do so. The choice was theirs, and no one could force them into going.

Draco was still trying to get over his surprise of even haven gotten a letter, not thinking he would have been welcomed back with open arms from Professor- Headmistress McGonagall. All he could do was stare at the letter. He stared at it for much longer than he should have, slender fingers trembling slightly, before eventually shoving it between some pages of a book that was sitting on his bed.

It was his first year potions book.

Looking at the book made hm think about the new students that would be arriving this year - the first years. It made him wonder how eager they were to see the school and be sorted into their houses, just like Draco had been.

And then he couldn't help but wonder if _any of them_ were actually excited to be placed in to Slytherin house, or if they would groan with distaste and ask to be placed into a different house, which would most probably be Gryffindor.

That could be done.

But if _every_ Slytherin student asked to be placed into a different house - well...there wouldn't be any students in Slytherin.

Draco blamed himself for that, too.

His mother and father didn't know about the letter, and Draco wanted to keep it that way. After everything the family had been through, his parents were lucky to not be sent to Azkaban. And the only reason they had managed to get out of that was because they had turned their backs on the Dark Lord - they had abandoned him.

He wasn't so much worried about his father finding the letter, he was going through a rough time of his own. It was his mother he was worried about.

If she found out about the letter, she would ask for him to go back. To go back and see his friends because it was better than being cooped up in the manor almost every day. But that was another thing, Draco didn't even know if his friends were returning to Hogwarts. He still had the same friends...minus one.

It pained him to remember that Goyle - one of his best friends - was now dead.

A year had passed since his death, and he still hadn't completely gotten over it. A year had also passed since the Battle of Hogwarts.

It had taken most of the year to rebuild the damaged parts of the school, and now, it was finally time for the students to return - both old and new ones.

Draco would not be one of them. That was just the way it was going to be, and there would be no discussion about it.

At least, there wasn't _supposed_ to be.

It was just two days before the start of the new school year, and Draco was in his bedroom, turning the envelope over and over in his hands. He had made his choice, he wasn't going, and that was final. But he found himself looking at the letter a lot more than he should have, along with a few of his old school things.

He had just been about to open it again when he heard his mother getting closer and closer to his bedroom, the clicking of her heels against the floor giving her away. He quickly shoved the letter between the pages of the book once more and swiftly turned to face his mother when she entered his bedroom. "Morning, mother. How are you today?"

"I'm well."

"And did you sleep alright?"

"Yes, I slept fine."

There was an awkward silence between them both as they just stared at each other before eventually Narcissa spoke up. "When were you going to tell me of your letter?" She asked with a soft sigh.

"What letter?"

"Your Hogwarts letter, Draco."

That voice was his not his mother's, and Draco had to tilt his head a little to look behind her, and his face immediately dropped when he saw who it was. "Pansy." He said with a groan. "What are you doing here?"

"Well it's nice to see you too, Draco." She said with a small huff, crossing her arms over her chest.

It wasn't that he didn't want to see her it, it was...just that he hadn't seen any of his friends from his time at the school and whenever he wanted to actually send them mail and ask how they were, he would always back out as he thought perhaps they didn't want to see him, or that they were no longer friends after what had happened.

Plus, since Pansy was here, it only meant one thing. _She_ was the reason his mother knew about the letter.

Realizing he had just been staring at his mother and his friend, Draco finally let out a sigh and walked over to the book, grabbing the letter that was already partly sticking out. He handed it to his mother, who took it, read it over a few times, and then finally looked at her son.

"No." He immediately said the second his mother opened her mouth. "I'm not going back."

"This could be good for you."

"I fail to see how this could be _good_ for me, mother."

Just as Narcissa was about to speak up again, Pansy stepped in and asked to speak to Draco alone, which Narcissa reluctantly agreed to. She handed Pansy the letter before giving her a small smile and leaving the bedroom, the door closing quietly behind her. Pansy immediately turned to her friend, who stared at her before rolling his eyes and walking over to sit down on his bed. "Your mother's right, you know. This could be good for you, it'll definitely be much better than sitting indoor all day. That's not good for your health."

Ah, there it was.

He had expected his mother to say it though, she was the kind of person to say things like that and of course worry about Draco's health. Even though he had told her countless times before that he was fine, and that she did not need to worry so much. That she should be worrying about his father instead of him. After all, he could tell his father was going through a much harder time.

The blond shook his head anyway. "I'm not going back, so coming here was a waste of your time.

"Just-" She sighed and walked over to sit next to him on the bed. "Just...listen to me. In two days, students will be filling Hogwarts again, old and new. And from what I've heard, a lot of the students who had been in our year are also returing. You should return with your friends, with us-with me. You're _Draco Malfoy_ , you don't really care what anyone else thinks, do you?"

"No, of course not." But he _did_.

"Then come with me! Blaise, Millicent, Crabbe-they're coming back too. I'm sure they'd be more than happy to see you." She looked at him, waited for an answer, and then let out a rather loud - and slightly frustrated - sigh when her friend didn't answer. "...you can always leave."

That immediately pulled Draco's attention away from the floorboards that had apparently been much more interesting than whatever Pansy had been saying. "What?"

"If you don't like it, you can leave. You're 18 now, Draco. We all are. If you realize that you don't want to be there for another year, you can always leave."

Oh.

Draco hadn't thought about that, really.

He had too much things going on in his mind, leaving Hogwarts was the last thing he was thinking about. _Returning_ to Hogwarts was the main thing he was thinking about. Perhaps he could return, he knew it would make his mother happy. It would be more education, too - not that he needed it or anything. And knowing that he could leave if he wished did help him make his choice.

He turned to look at his friend, nodding. "I'll give it a go. But if I decide to leave, you, and no one else, can try to convince me to stay."

"Alright-"

" _Promise me_ , that you won't try to get me to stay."

Pansy sighed, "Fine, I promise."

Draco nodded, then looked to the letter when it was handed to him again.

He couldn't believe that he had just agreed to go back to Hogwarts after what had happened, what he had done. It was a completely stupid idea.

But...it would make his mother happy, and if he didn't like it, he could leave at any time. He had to remember that.

* * *

Two days later when they were on the Hogwarts Express, was when Draco first wanted to leave.

He had gotten all the things he needed for going back to Hogwarts and he wasn't really that worried about it then, but when he was sitting on the Hogwarts Express with other students, it was then that he started to worry just slightly. He didn't let it show though, and he certainly didn't let anyone know about it. But he did keep his face buried in a copy of _The Daily Prophet_ for most of the train journey.

His friends didn't say anything about it, not at first anyway. But eventually Blaise spoke up. "Do you realize how stupid you look right now?"

"Do you realize how stupid you look _all the time_?" Draco hissed, the paper crumpling under his fingers as his grip tightened just slightly. He didn't even bother apologizing to Blaise, putting his attention back on the paper.

He hadn't really meant to say that, it just sort of slipped out before he could stop it from happening. But apologizing for it wasn't something he was going to do. Surely his friends understood how he felt right now. They were probably just as nervous as he was about returning to Hogwarts. After all, pretty much all of Slytherin house was on Draco's side during the war.

 _Pansy_ even wanted to hand Potter over to Lord Voldemort, yet she was returning with a smile on her face.

But the thing was, they didn't seem bothered. They didn't seem nervous or anxious. They seemed...happy, in a way. Happier than Draco was anyway.

Perhaps he was just overthinking things too much.

Perhaps things wouldn't be _that_ bad for him.

If his friends (and some other students) could put on a smile and pretend that nothing had happened, then he could do that too. Well, maybe not the smiling part, but he could pretend that nothing had happened. So, eventually, he set down _The Daily Prophet_ and looked around the carriage before then looking back to Pansy and Blaise. Crabbe and Millicent were sitting in a different compartment with two other Slytherin students - Draco had no idea who they were, but they were friendly anyway.

"How many students did you say were returning?" He asked after a while, glancing at Pansy.

"Well...pretty much... _everyone_ from our year."

That was the first time Draco had wanted to leave then.

Everyone from their year.

Sure, Pansy might have mentioned it before, but Draco hadn't really been paying attention at the time, thinking about much more important things, like...all the cracks in the wood of the floorboards.

He had only gotten to 23 before he had heard Pansy mention the thing about leaving.

But now knowing that everyone from their Seventh year was returning to do it again, it made him panic, mentally of course. People who had seen what he had done, who knew what he had become, they were all returning. Draco would have to face them. He was mentally cursing himself now, telling himself that he should have just stayed at home and let his mother worry about his health-

No, that's why he was doing this.

It was so his mother would stop worrying. So that his parents could work things out, and not have to worry about Draco at the same time.

This would help his family, he just had to remember that. He just had to keep telling himself that. And that was exactly what he done as he sat there, gazing off out the window, not realizing that his friends had been trying to get his attention for quite a while until he was jolted back into reality when Pansy kicked him, he immediately sent her a glare, but it wasn't as...hateful as it had once been. " _What_?"

"You keep spacing out-"

"I've only done it once."

"No, you've done it more than once. You sat there staring at the same page of _The Daily Prophet_ for longer than 20 minutes, Draco. It doesn't take _you_ that long to read."

"And then you started staring down one of the new students who walked by our compartment, you scared them off."

"Good," Draco muttered and finally closed the paper, looking to his two friends. "I'm just thinking about mother and father, that's all."

Did his friends believe that? Draco wasn't too sure. Their facial expressions made them look like they did, but the look they gave each other made Draco have his doubts. Did they know what he was worrying about? Or were they going to try and get it out of him?

Luckily, his friends weren't the type to ask questions, so they just simply shrugged it off and started talking amongst each other again as Draco started to, yet again, space out as he looked out the window. There were so many thoughts going through his head right now.

Were his mother and father going to be okay?

Was he going to be okay?

How would people react to seeing him again?

Would anyone, aside from his friends, be happy to see him again?

After a while, it started to hurt thinking about all those sort of things and all he was doing was making himself dread it more. So, he done the only thing he could do to take his mind off of it, and he went to sleep for the rest of the journey.

.

.

.

When they were finally there and making their way to the school, Draco swore he could hear hushed whispers of his name and while it looked like it didn't bother him, it secretly did. If people had saw him already, the rumors were going to start spreading like wildfire. Really, he was now fine with it, but if anyone ever mentioned his parents or said something bad about them, they would wish they hadn't.

Draco had always been very protective of his parents, and he certainly didn't like it when anyone bad-mouthed them. It only showed more after everything that had happened.

And even though he had arrived at the school with all of the other students, he hadn't really been spotted yet. All that had been said was his name, and he was sure even those who had said it was just simply wondering if he was there or not. While everyone went to the Great Hall, Draco decided to take a wander around, just to see what had changed and what hadn't.

Not much had actually changed, it was still the same old Hogwarts that he had came to at the age of 11. There had been a few minor changes, but that was it. However, one of the more noticable changes was that there were now eighth year common rooms for the students who had returned. And just as he was about to explore the rest of the castle, Crabbe came running up to him and Draco just simply stared at his friend while waiting for him to catch his breath.

"P-Pansy said-...Pansy said that-" Crabbe raised his hand in a manner that let the blond know he had to wait until he had finished huffing and panting for him to speak. He crossed his arms over his chest and sighed, glancing around before finally looking back to him when he stood upright. "P-Pansy said I've to come get you, the Sorting Ceremony has just finished, so now it's time for the Start-Of-Term-Feast. You won't want to miss that-"

Had he really been walking around for so long that he had missed the Sorting Ceremony? It wasn't like he wanted to see it anyway, but time sure did fly when...well, he couldn't exactly say he was having fun right now.

"Alright" He muttered, beginning to walk in long strides. "You know, you don't have to do what she tells you to do."

"She's _almost_ as scary as you, Draco. I wouldn't want to wrong her."

Draco couldn't help but feel proud of himself at that. At least some people still feared him the way he had been feared...before he had became a Death Eater. He was feared as a bully. Then again, Crabbe always had been the kind of person who was scared easily. But Draco _did_ care deeply about his friend.

They walked back to the Great Hall together and even before the doors had opened, Draco could hear the many students chattering and laughing, and he felt his stomach turn. But there was no turning back now. So, he glanced to Crabbe before then making his way into the Great Hall, the sound of the doors opening catching the attention of everyone there.

But he didn't let that falter his steps as he walked to Slytherin table.

"Is that Malfoy?" He heard one of the students whispering to another.

"No, it can't be-"

"Would he really be that stupid to return here?"

"Why do you suppose he's came back?"

"Maybe he's trying to make up for what he done."

"Hah! He should have left when he had the chance, no one's going to forgive him."

Draco tried so hard not to let his attention get drawn towards the voices coming from the Gryffindor table, but his curiousity got the better of him and when he sat down at his house table, he glanced over to Gryffindor table, seeing that pretty much _all_ of the Gryffindor students had returned.

And he had just been about to look away when his eyes locked with someone else's - it was none other than Harry Potter. Of course _he_ had returned with the other two, anyone would have been stupid to think that they wouldn't have.

But as Draco soon tore his gaze away from the table and looked down at the food, he realized that looking over at the Gryffindor table and locking eyes with Potter was a mistake.

Because that had been the second thing that made Draco want to leave.

* * *

 **A/N: I just figured I'd place some footnotes here because there's somethings I should inform people of!**

 **1) Like I said at the start, this entire fic will be based on what I've seen in the movies and what I've read on the Harry Potter Wiki. And one of the things I read on there while doing some research is that Lucius was able to get out of going to Azkaban after the war because hours _before_ the war, Lucius and his family had abandoned Voldemort, so he didn't serve any time in Azkaban.**

 **2) Also, on the Wiki, it says that both Crabbe and Goyle is dead. But Crabbe died in the book, Goyle died in the movie to replace Crabbe (because of some things relating with the actor who had played Crabbe), so I went with the movie version and made it just so that Goyle is dead while Crabbe is still alive.**

 **3) I alsooo looked up some things about "Draco's Gang" and it did say that Millicent Bustrode was a part of Draco's gang, and I couldn't really tell if she still was, so I added her into it anyway. And it also said that Pike was a part of Malfoy's gang in Prisoner of Azkaban because the actor who had played Crabbe had injured his arm and couldn't do his scenes, or something along those lines anyway.**

 **But I decided to just leave Pike out of it, at least for now, anyway.**

 **I think...that's the only footnotes I have to say, that's all I can think of anyway!**

 **Anyway, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Ahh, I didn't think I would actually be able to update so soon since I'm back at college on Monday and I have to sort things out for that. But _because_ I'm back at college on Monday, I wanted to at least get three chapters done for this fic this weekend, because I do have the inspiration for this and I do have it all planned it out in my head, so I know what I want to write.**

 **It's just finding the time to write it that's the problem.  
**

 **I might even be able to do a chapter a day, hopefully, because I have no other fics to do yet. Well, actually, I do. But I'm not going to start them until I've at least almost gotten this one finished! I don't know how many chapters there is going to be for this fic, but I do tend to write a lot and plan things out (then add more things on to that plan), so it could be pretty long.**

 **I'm trying my best to get better at writing this characters, I feel like I'm doing okay. I mean, I'm not doing great, but I'm also not doing really, really bad. Having confidence in yourself (even a little bit) when you're writing is a good thing, and it's rare for me to have even a little bit of confidence in my writing.**

 **But I'm always going to tell myself that practice makes perfect, because it's true. I won't get better at writing unless I practice a lot and work harder - which I do a lot!**

 **I am sorry if this chapter isn't good, though. But because I'm going back to college on Monday, I'm staying up until 6 am most nights to actually get these chapters done before I go back. So if there is any errors or spelling mistakes - things like that - it's mostly because when I'm writing this, I'm usually on the verge of falling of asleep.**

 **Anyway, enough of my rambling!**

 **I hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks for reading!**

* * *

It had been a few weeks since the start of term, and Draco no longer found it as bad as it had been when he first arrived back at the school.

Sure, there were still the students who would talk about him, the ones that would laugh at him and mutter things under their breath. There were also students who apparently had the urge to always stare at him, causing Draco to simply glare in return, even though he knew in the back of his mind that it wouldn't have any effect.

Some students had even came up to him one time and asked him for help - something to do with potions. Draco refused.

But they were stubborn. Incredibly stubborn, so a few days later, they asked again and Draco refused once more.

They didn't give up, they asked a few more times before Draco finally snapped at them and then stormed out of the Great Hall. He wasn't there to _help people_ , he was there for himself. And also...because his mother wanted him to go.

Though, after that, the students were afraid to approach him. Which made him feel...slightly happy about that. There had already been a few students who were afraid of him, however he wasn't sure if that was because he was known for being a bully or if it was because he had once been a Death Eater. He hoped it was because he was known for being a bully and not the...other.

Draco had just simply made a bad choice that he thought was best for himself. _Everyone_ made bad choices.

Maybe not as bad as Draco's, but they were still pretty bad.

Sometimes he would catch students looking at his left arm as if to see if the Dark Mark was still there, which actually made Draco very self-conscious and as he was walking by anyone, his right hand would instinctively go to his arm and rub the sleeve, letting out a soft sigh. The mark was no longer there, it faded after a while because Voldemort was gone.

But now that it was faded, it looked more like a...burn scar.

There would be times when he was studying in the Great Hall or if he was eating, he would forget about it and roll up his sleeves, but when he realized that some of the students at their table - including his friends - would be staring at it, he quickly rolled his sleeves back down and acted as if it wasn't even there. The first time he had done it was yet another time that had made him want to leave.

He had let his mother know of all the times he had wanted to leave, sending her letters every couple of days - she had asked him to before he had left, to which Draco reluctantly agreed to do.

Whenever he told her of the times he wanted to leave, his mother would send him a letter in return that would always make him forget about wanting to leave. It didn't matter what she said in the letter, by the end of it, Draco wanted to finish his year at Hogwarts. And, while he told his mother about wanting to leave, he didn't tell her about the stares, the whispering, the rumors - any of it.

She didn't need to know, and Draco certainly didn't want to worry her.

The blond spent a lot of his time in the eighth year common room. And if he couldn't be found there, he could either be found in the Owlery or the Astronomy Tower. Right now, he was in the Astronomy Tower. He didn't know why he would ever go up to the tower after what happened in his sixth year, but sometimes his feet would just take him there. If it didn't have so many bad memories for Draco, perhaps he would have enjoyed the relaxing silence in the tower, but he couldn't.

All that came back to him was that night and what had happened, how scared he had been, what Dumbledore had said to him. How he had been pressured, but yet, he still couldn't bring himself to kill the headmaster - especially not when he offered protection for himself and his mother. But then Snape was quickly walking up the steps and pushing past the Death Eaters, Draco included. And Draco watched as the headmaster was killed right in front of him, and he couldn't hold back his tears, even as he was grabbed and forced to follow the others as they all left.

Draco wouldn't lie, that had been one of the worst choices in his life.

It _definitely_ topped the rest.

Ever since it had happened, he couldn't stop having nightmares about it, and being in the place where it happened didn't exactly help. He stood where Dumbledore had once stood, running his hand over the mark that had once been on his left arm, and too into his own thoughts that he didn't hear someone else walking up the steps. But he certainly heard them when they spoke.

" _Oh_." It was Potter, of course it was. And Draco could hear both the surprise and hatred in his voice. In just that little 'oh'. Well, it might not have been hatred, but that's what Draco took it as.

Draco swiftly turned around after rolling down his sleeves as he watched Weasley and Granger come up the steps after their friend. He didn't even bother saying anything as he glared at the Trio and roughly shoved past them, quickly making his way downstairs.

"...what do you suppose that was all about?" Hermione asked as she looked back to the other two.

"Beats me, but at least he's gone. Now all we need to do is get him out of the school-"

"Ron, don't be so mean."

"Oh, _come on_ , Hermione." Ron looked at his girlfriend, face scrunching up slightly. "Do you really think he _deserves_ to be here after what he done?"

Hermione didn't answer that, instead looking to Harry, who was now standing where Draco had been standing. He shrugged a little. "I don't know. When he was asked to identify me at the manor, he said he wasn't too sure."

"That doesn't make up for everything else he done, though." Ron muttered as he walked over and leaned against the railing. "But...if he stays, he'll get what's coming to him. What he deserves."

Harry and Hermione exchanged a look before looking out of the tower with Ron.

.

.

.

Later that night at dinner, Draco was late to dinner, but he was soon being urged into the Great Hall by Pansy, who had a tight hold of his robes. He looked pretty disheveled and because of that, some of the students - mostly boys and also mostly Gryffindors - stared saying that he had been spending time alone with Parkinson. It was clear what they meant by that.

What was being said was ignored by Draco however as he sat down across from his friends with a grumble. "I told you to leave me alone, Pansy."

"And I told you that you have to eat some food." She huffed, sliding a plate of food over to him, which Draco reluctantly took.

He was not long awake, hence the reason why he looked so disheveled, and he wasn't really hungry right now. But despite that, he still ate some of the food that was on his plate before finally standing up again, immediately getting the attention of his friends, and some of the other students.

"Where are you going-"

"I'm tired, Pansy. Just let me go to sleep," he muttered as he stepped over the bench and then left the Great Hall, his friends watching him. However, not long after he left the Great Hall, he heard someone asking Pansy if she was "going to follow her boyfriend". And he recognized the voice, it was one of the Gryffindor's - the one that liked to blow things up. Draco couldn't remember his name, but he knew what he liked to do. He had been blowing things up since their first year.

Truth be told, Draco wasn't actually getting much sleep at all. When Pansy had went to the common room to look for him, he had been slumped over in one of the chairs, book on the floor. That was the first time he had went to sleep without...having any nightmares about the things that had happened, the things that he had done. No one had to know about that, though.

Even his own mother and father didn't know about his nightmares.

And whenever people thought he was sleeping, he would just be pretending. Though, there was the rare occasion that he _would_ fall asleep for a while, only to be woken up maybe ten minutes later because of the nightmares. So, sometimes he would read a book or wander around the castle, but would make sure to return before everyone else woke up.

Sometimes it was when he sitting awake at night that would make him want to go back home. However, he knew that if he went back home, his nightmares would only get worse. Many things had happened at Hogwarts to cause anyone to have nightmares, but many things had also happened at Malfoy Manor to cause Draco to have even more nightmares.

He knew that he would just have to keep doing other things to take his mind off of it. He would have to try and be like his normal self, the Draco Malfoy that people were scared of bcause of bullying - not because he had once been a Death Eater. The Draco Malfoy who hated muggle borns and well...pretty much anyone else who wasn't in Slytherin house. That was who he wanted to be again.

To Draco, that was being normal. That was normal for him, and being normal was what he wanted.

* * *

Two days later during a potions class, Draco had realized that things wouldn't be normal for him.

Potions was their first class in the morning, not that he minded, he done well with potions. And he had actually gotten some sleep the night before, so he was feeling...a little refreshed. He was paired up with Crabbe, who was also quite good at potions - most people assumed he wasn't. He wasn't as good as Draco, but he was still...good.

Things were going fine most of the class, Draco was doing fine, no one was paying him much attention. Things were fine. At least they were up until they were sitting down and listening to professor Slughorn talk about _something_ \- Draco wasn't focusing after a while because all he was trying to do was keep his eyes open and stop himself from falling asleep.

He didn't understand, he had never been this tired before. And he was far too tired to think that one of the other students in the class could have done something - which they had.

During breakfast, two Ravenclaw students had gotten a first year Slytherin student to give Draco some breakfast that was laced with a Sleeping Draught - not that the first year student knew that. Draco hadn't known about it because the plate was already there when he sat down, so he had assumed Pansy had put the food on a plate for him, thanking her.

Pansy didn't say anything about it because she was just glad that Draco seemed a little better that morning, and she didn't know about the Sleeping Draught either.

Those two Raveclaw students were in the same class as Draco that morning, yet he hadn't been paying attention to what their names were, and when they were sure the potion would start working, they would occasionally glance over to him. Soon, they noticed how he was trying so hard to keep his eyes open, his chin resting on the palm of his hand. No one else had noticed the way Draco was acting, not even Crabbe who was sitting right next to him.

However, when Draco could no longer keep his eyes open and passed out on the floor with a _thud_ , everyone had their attention on him. And of course everyone immediately started laughing - everyone except Draco's friends and...Hermione, who simply said that it wasn't a funny thing to see.

Draco woke up not long after it had happened, and when he saw professor Slughorn standing over him, he immediately scrambled to his feet, brushing off his robes and acting as if nothing had happened as he sat back down. However, he definitely showed his displeasure at losing 5 house points for "falling asleep during a lesson". Of course, that had angered Draco even though it was only 5 house points, but he didn't do anything about it.

He would just simply...find whoever had done it and make _them_ pay.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of it.

Their next class was Divination and things were fine up until the class was over and they were leaving. Draco was shoving his books into his bag when he heard a few students muttering his name, and he looked over to them with a glare, immediately shutting them up. However, as those students left, one of them took out their wand, pointed at Draco, and whispered ' _Colloshoo_ '.

And they made sure to stay for a few minutes to watch as the Slytherin student tried to move forward, only to fall flat on his face. The students who had still been packing up immediately erupted into laughter, which again only angered Draco. Pansy knew this had angered her friend and when he finally got back to his feet again, she held him back from doing anything stupid.

He looked down at his friend and then roughly shoved past her and the other students, then left the classroom, glaring at anyone who even looked at him.

Draco didn't have a class after that. Unfortunately, neither did the students he had shared classes with.

So, an hour or two later when Draco heard the two Ravenclaw students calling for him in the courtyard, he just simply ignored them. But their shouting had also gotten the attention of the other students who were trying to relax or study there.

"Did you enjoy your trip, Malfoy?" One asked.

"And your nap?" The other said with a grin, and it was clear they wanted to rile the blond up because when they didn't get a reaction out of him, they only continued to shout things at him. "No one wants you here, you know! You've done nothing but cause trouble for everyone."

"Do you suppose it was his _stupid mother_ that wanted him to come back?"

The second his mother was mentioned, Draco had saw red. He dropped his bag and made his way over to the two, grabbing one of them by their robes. "Don't you _dare_ talk about my mother." He hissed.

The student just simply grinned, but it showed in his eyes how uneasy he was feeling now that Draco was so close to him. "What are you going to do about it, Malfoy? You can't do anything, you're weak. Just like your mother and father."

Draco quickly let go of the robes in order to take out his wand, and he had just been about to cast a spell when none other than Boy Wonder quickly walked over and stood between them. When he opened his mouth to talk to Draco, the Slytherin student just simply scoffed and grabbed his bag again before leaving.

Harry watched him leave, then turned to look at the other two students. "Are you trying to get expelled, Michael?"

"No, we're trying to get _him_ expelled."

"The way you were doing it, all _three_ of you would have gotten expelled."

"Whatever," Michael muttered as he straightend his robes and then left the courtyard, his friend following him.

Harry watched them, then looked around, noticing that some of the other students were looking at him - including Ron and Hermione. He then walked over to the two and sighed before giving them both a small smile, then started walking, the trio soon ending up at the Astronomy Tower yet again. They stood in silence for a while before it was finally Harry who broke it. "Do you really think he came back here willingly? Malfoy, I mean?"

Hermione slowly turned to look at him, eyebrows knitting together. "That's an odd question to ask." She muttered and went quiet for a while before shrugging. "Perhaps he did, maybe he really does want to make up for what he's done."

"Well," Ron started. "If he wants to make up for it, he's doing it the wrong way. In my opinion, he should just leave. I bet even the professors think so! All he's going to do is cause even more trouble."

"Right now it's those two Ravenclaw students who are causing trouble." Hermione muttered, and just as Ron was about to say something else, she noticed the time. She quickly stood up and brushed off her robes. "Come on, we better get going." She said as she grabbed her things, then quickly walked down the steps, Ron following after he while saying something about a new prank while Harry followed behind quietly.

He was curious about Malfoy, then again, he was sure everyone was. Actually, he _knew_ everyone wanted to know why he came back after what he had done. And he was sure it was only a matter of time before someone else tried to get the answer out of him again. Harry had other things to worry about anyway, he didn't have to worry about Malfoy right now.

Or any other time, for that matter.

.

.

.

Draco didn't show up to dinner that night, and both Michael and Anthony seemed proud of themselves, thinking it was because of what they had done.

In reality, it wasn't anything they had done. When asked by Pansy and Millicent to come with them for dinner, Draco simply refused and said he was going to go to sleep because he wasn't hungry. Millicent left, but Pansy had stayed to try and get Draco to come with her. "You need to eat, you know. Is it because of what happened today?"

"No! I'm just tired, I want to sleep."

"Can't you at least get some food-"

" _Pansy_. Let me add to that promise you made me when you arrived at my home." He muttered. "I want you to promise that you're going to stop trying to get me to do things."

Pansy let out an annoyed sigh and just stared at her friend, who simply stared back at her, before finally she agreed. "Fine, I promise."

"Good. Now you can go." Draco watched as she reluctantly left, going to the Great Hall with Millicent who had been waiting on her. Pansy was a good friend, she really was. She just tended to get overprotective of Draco, which wasn't something he needed. It happened while they had dated for a short while, but even after that, it hadn't gone away. The blond didn't mind it sometimes, but most days it was annoying. He was just glad that he had finally gotten her to leave.

He actually was planning on going to sleep, and he did manage to get to sleep. However, when the other students arrived after dinner, Draco was woken up then. And he couldn't get back to sleep no matter how hard he tried, so he just lay in bed for a few hours before he eventually had to get up to go to the bathroom.

And of course, as one usually thinks, Draco thought he was alone in the bathroom.

He couldn't have been more wrong.

In the bathroom with him was Moaning Myrtle, and she had just been about to go to a different bathroom when she had noticed Draco. She immediately went over to him. "Well, isn't a surprise to see _you_ here?"

" _What_ -!" Draco quickly finished his...'business' before fixing his pants and going over to the sink to wash his hands, ignoring Myrtle's giggling. "Did you have to do that?"

"Well, you surprised me, so I thought I would surprise you in return." She hummed, watching as Draco washed his hands. "So. Why are you back here anyway?"

"I _wanted_ to come back," was all Draco had muttered, causing Myrtle to roll her eyes.

The two had formed a...weird sort of friendship when Draco was in his sixth year - when he had became a Death Eater. It had been taking its toll on him, and Myrtle had caught him one time in the bathroom and offered to listen. And she did, and she comforted him as much as she could. Draco was thankful for that. When she spoke again and asked if Draco would like to talk, he immediately said no.

But he then took that back and instead said that yes, he did want to talk. He didn't talk about the war or his parents, instead he just simply spoke about what had happened today, and Myrtle didn't interject unless Draco wanted her to. She was quiet for once as she listened to Draco and tried her absolute best to make him feel better about himself.

No one had ever found out about the two of them talking to each other, and he had planned to keep it that way.

* * *

 **Footnotes.**

 **1) Anthony and Michael are both Ravenclaw students (at least that's what it says on the Wiki). Their full names are Anthony Goldstein and Michael Corner.**

 **2) On the Myrtle Warren page of the Wiki, it does say that Draco and Myrtle had formed a sort of friendship while Draco was in his sixth year. Draco had started talking to her because she listened to him and did her best to comfort him. As the result of this, Myrtle eventually got a crush on Draco. I thought I'd add that in because I do have something planned for it later on in this fic.**

 **I think that's all the footnotes I have for this chapter, but thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: This will probably be the last chapter that is uploaded quick because I started college yesterday and my only free days are Wednesday and Friday, so I'm most likely not going to be able to update as much as I want to. But as I've said before (I think), I'm going to try and update at least once a week and then a lot more during the weekend, which should hopefully work out well since I don't have any classes on a Friday. So I could probably start writing a chapter on Wednesday, finish it on Friday, then start working on the next.**

 **Since I _know_ what I'm going to write for this fic and how I want things to happen - I always have the motivation to write. It helps a lot because I've planned it all out, both in my head and I've actually written things down.  
**

 **The only problem is trying to find time to write it. That's my main problem.**

 **I need less ideas and more time because I think of far too many ideas - ESPECIALLY for this fic! ;w;**

 **Also, once again, I'm sorry if some things in this chapter don't make sense or if there are spelling errors - things like that. Because I've started back at college, I'm trying my best to upload these chapters as quick, so my mind is all jumbled up since I'm staying up so late to write them.**

 **Anyway, thank you for the reading and I hope you enjoy this chapter!  
**

* * *

The seventh year students - now known as eighth year students - didn't have any classes the next day, so a lot of them slept in late during the morning. Draco wasn't one of them, of course. He hadn't even went to sleep, which he was regretting when he went to the Great Hall that morning for breakfast. Normally, despite the nightmares and such, he would have still tried to get even an hour of sleep.

But he had spent most of the night just talking to Myrtle about had happened during the classes, so he had completely lost track of time and didn't get back to the common room until very, very late. And by the time he got back, he didn't see any point in going to sleep.

As he sat down at the Slytherin table that morning, he wasn't really all that surprised to see that Pansy and Millicent were already there, talking away. However, the second Draco sat down at the table, they immediately went quiet. He raised an eyebrow. "You can keep talking."

"We had finished anyway," Millicent murmured.

Draco didn't believe that at all, but he nodded despite that. "What were you talking about?" He decided to ask after a while.

"Potions."

"Potter."

Millicent and Pansy looked at each other when they realized they had said two completely different things, then looked at Draco, who clearly looked unamused with them. He raised his hands as he stood up "I understand. I'll leave so you can keep talking." He muttered, narrowing his eyes at them both before leaving without even eating anything.

Pansy immediately stood up and followed after him. "Draco, wait-"

"What's the matter, Parkinson? Upset your boyfriend?" Seamus teased as walked into the Great Hall, clearly not long awake. But Pansy just simply scoffed and pushed past him to follow Draco, who was not stopping at all. Somehow, Pansy was able to catch up to him, grabbing him by the sleeve of his shirt to stop him from walking any further. "You didn't have to leave." She immediately said.

Draco turned to face her, shrugging her hand off his sleeve. "Oh, I'm pretty sure I did, Pansy. It was clear you and Millicent didn't want me there because of whatever you had been talking about."

"...we're just worried about you, Draco. You don't seem to be eating much, or... _sleeping_ for that matter. We've been here for a few weeks, almost a month, and every night Crabbe sees you leaving the common room. We just want to know where you've been going."

"Nowhere." Draco said immediately.

His friends didn't need to know that he had been going to Astronomy Tower, or that he had went up to the Owlery a few times to send letters to his mother. Or that he was beginning to talk to Moaning Myrtle again. It wasn't even just his friends who didn't need to know that - _no one_ had to know that. No one could find out about it, because Draco didn't know what would happen if they did.

Things already hadn't been going well for him, he didn't want things to get worse.

However, what he didn't know was that hiding in one of the alcoves was none other than the Ginny Weasley - or as Draco liked to call her "Weaslette". She had just been about to make her way to the Great Hall when she had noticed Draco and Pansy coming her way, so instead of walking past them, she quickly hid in the alcove. And because of that, she heard everything that the two Slytherins had been talking about.

She stayed there until the two of them walked again - well, until Draco walked away with a groan and Pansy followed after him yet again. When she was sure they were gone, she made her way to the Great Hall and sat down with her fellow Gryffindors, deciding not to say anything. Though when Pansy soon walked back into the Great Hall alone, that was when Ginny finally spoke up.

"She's worried about Draco." She muttered, turning to face Seamus, Neville, Nigel - the only ones who were awake just now. The ones who were awake in her group of friends.

"Well we could have told you that." Seamus laughed, but stopped when Ginny gave him a look as if saying that she wasn't amused.

She shook her head. "No, I _heard_ them talking. Apparently he hasn't been eating or sleeping much, and he's been wandering the castle during the night when everyone is sleeping."

"Did you hear where he's been going?"

"He didn't say. He just said 'nowhere'." Ginny shrugged, beginning to eat. "He's as mysterious as ever."

Now knowing that Draco had been wandering off during nights gave Seamus an idea, but he wouldn't share it with anyone. Well, anyone except Ron whenever he showed up. They all assumed that the trio were busy doing something else, or that they were in the library and studying under Hermione's orders.

.

.

.

Harry and Hermione were actually in the courtyard, Ron was still fast asleep. Harry had tried to wake him for breakfast, but he wouldn't wake up, so he just left him to get up in his own time. So, in the mean time, he had went to the courtyard with Hermione while she read some books. The two were sitting in their own little world, Harry lounging on the grass while Hermione sat on a bench.

They had been chatting here and there, but they had been quiet for a while, so Harry eventually decided to break the silence. "...do you think Ron's right?"

"About what?"

"Malfoy getting what he deserves."

Hermione sighed and watched as Harry finally sat up. "Do _you_ think he's right, Harry?"

"I don't know." He shrugged. "A large part of me believes that he does deserve it because of what he's done, not just when he became a Death Eater, but because of all the bullying he done too."

"But...?"

"But, there is a small part of me that believes that he doesn't deserve it. That night on the Astronomy Tower when Bellatrix was pressuring him into killing Dumbledore, he was hesitant. He didn't _want_ to do it. And then when he had to recgonize me at Malfoy Manor, he said he couldn't tell. I think he realized he had made the wrong choices-"

"That's exactly what I was going to say." Hermione gave her friend a small smile before looking back to her book. "While it's not nice to watch, I do think he deserves the pranks that are being pulled on him. For all of the bullying he done. But if it goes any further, we should probably tell someone."

"Why do _we_ have to tell someone?

"Because it's _Draco Malfoy_ we're talking about. If he's having problems, he's not going to talk to anyone, is he?"

Harry nodded slowly, then relaxed on the grass again, enjoying the silence. However, when he heard a few whispers, he looked over to where Draco had walked over to and then glanced back to Hermione. "Speak of the Devil," he muttered.

Draco had just walked out to the courtyard and the second he had walked out, students were already whispering and quickly moving away from him. Normally Draco wouldn't have came to the courtyard, but he didn't know if Pansy was still going to follow him or not, and it was the only place he could think of going so she wouldn't find out about anything.

Like where he had been going most nights.

Or rather, _every_ night.

Of course, he hadn't noticed Harry and Hermione as he walked over to sit on a bench, opening a book about potions. However, not long after he opened it, he had to close it again when a few students walked over to him. He lifted his head and looked at them with narrowed eyes.

First year Slytherins. Draco didn't really want to talk to them, but...he was also curious to know what they wanted.

" _What_?" He asked.

"W-we were wondering if we could...see the faded mark on your arm. Your _left_ arm."

Draco immediately glared at them, standing up slowly and towering over the three students. "I don't think I heard correctly, could you repeat that?"

The student who seemed like the leader of the trio looked to the side, and Draco saw the look on his face, it was as if he was asking if this was really okay. But just as Draco was going to look at who the first year was staring at, the student turned back to him, swallowed thickly, and then asked the question again. "C-can we see your-"

Before the boy could even finish his sentence, Draco was grabbing him by the robes, and what only angered him more was that he had even tried to look at his arm then. His grip only tightened on the boy's robes. And then he remembered he could do much more damage with his wand, so he let go of him and quickly pointed his wand at the student.

But just as he had been about to do something, someone was standing between them. Draco grit his teeth when he saw who it was. "Stop getting in the way, Potter."

"He's just a _first year_ , Malfoy, he doesn't know any better. He's probably fallen victim to one of the older students pranks." Harry watched the older student, then noticed how his grip tightened on his wand. "I'm not moving, so if you want to cause some trouble, go ahead."

"Move," he hissed.

"No."

The two of them stared at each other, Draco glaring sharply at the Gryffindor before then finally roughly shoving him out of the way to look at the three students, who were clearly scared to even look at Draco now. "Who told you to come over here?" He hadn't even finished asking the question when the boy quickly pointed over to the student he had been looking at.

It was another Slytherin, Draco didn't know his name however. He didn't pay much attention to names. He glared at them one more time before then walking over to the fifth year student, who quickly tried to get away, but he didn't get away far enough and soon Draco was pointing his wand at him. He was even too quick for Harry to stop him. " _Ossis Effegro_!"

The fifth year student immediately fell to the ground with a cry of pain, holding his leg that was now broken and looked to the older Slytherin as he walked over to him, the students gathering around them and watching as Draco towered over the fifth year student. He didn't even have to say anything for the younger boy to quickly look away from him, the fear clear in his eyes. The rest of the students watched as Draco then left, but he wasn't able to get far because soon he heard someone saying his name.

He tensed just slightly before slowly turning to face Headmistress McGonagall, who was staring at him with a raised eyebrow. "20 points from Slythern-"

" _20_ points?"

"10 points each. For the prank Mr. Miller pulled and what you just done - using a spell on another student. You're an eighth year student, Mr. Malfoy. Please act like one."

Draco stared at her, then down when he heard some of the students snickering. When he heard McGonagall ask Granger and Potter to take the injured boy to Madam Pomfrey, he turned to leave, but he was stopped again. "Don't think you can get away so fast, I'd like to see you in my office."

That was the last place Draco had wanted to go, not because he was scared of what was going to happen. But because it had belonged to Dumbledore - the man he had tried to kill. Yes, he could go to the Astronomy Tower where he was supposed to kill the Headmaster, but that was only because most of the time when he went there it was to blame himself for everything that had happened.

It was to...hate himself.

Dumbledore's office was a different place to go, but reluctantly, Draco went there.

He was hesitant as he walked inside, looking around. Not much had changed in the office, really. Draco still found it really uneasy to be standing in the middle of it, though. He turned slightly when he heard McGonagall walk in, watching as she made her way over to the desk and sat down, motioning for Draco to do the same. But he didn't, he just simply stared at the seat before then looking at the Headmistress.

"I have been meaning to talk to you-"

"Why did you send me a letter?"

The question had slipped out of Draco's mouth before he could even stop himself, and there was a very long awkward silence between the two of them before McGonagall finally sighed. "What made you think I _wouldn't_ send you one?" She asked, despite already knowing the answer. When Draco didn't answer, she just spoke up again but changed the subject. "You know the rules, you can't use magic on other students. Especially one such as the bone-breaking curse-"

"He deserved it."

"Please tell me why he deserved it."

Draco knew that if he told her why it would mean he would have to talk about his arm, and that wasn't something he wanted to talk about. So, instead, he just didn't say anything, and when McGonagall finally realized that, she was the one to speak again. "If you're not going to talk, you can go-"

"Thank you," was Draco's immediate response as he left.

The Slytherin had just been planning on going back to the common room or even going to the library, but then he realized that the other Slytherin student whose leg he had broken wouldn't have been able to know about his arm unless someone had told him. He made his way to the hospital wing, waiting until it was relatively empty before walking inside and going over to the bed where he saw the student - Byron Miller was his name. The second he saw Draco, he tensed up and looked as if he was about to try and get away.

"Who told you about my arm?"

"What?"

Draco narrowed his eyes, leaning closer. "Who told you about my arm? Someone must have told you, I want to know who it was."

"I have no idea what y-you're talking about-"

"Don't make me break more of your bones," Draco hissed, getting his wand ready, and when he got the answer, he should have been satisfied. But he wasn't. He slowly lowered his arm to his side and then left the hospital wing, bumping into Madam Pomfrey on the way out. He went back to the common room, sitting down in a chair that was placed in the corner.

Apparently Byron had overheard Draco's friends talking about it to other students.

He wanted to know why his two friends had been talking about the mark, or even _Draco_ for that matter, but he didn't want them to know that he knew - so he couldn't exactly go up and ask them. He'd just have to keep it to himself, or...even talk to Myrtle about it later tonight. It was weird, he felt as if he could trust her more than he could trust anyone else.

And that included his own friends.

But it made him wonder - was it _his_ fault?

* * *

During dinner, Draco didn't talk to anyone.

It wasn't really that unusual, but soon Pansy started to get worried when Draco just ignored her. Both her and Blaise. The two weren't even aware they had done something wrong. So, after dinner and when the girls were in their dormitory and the boys were in theirs, Blaise decided to ask Draco what was wrong. The answer he got had annoyed him.

"Nothing, Blaise. Now let me go to sleep."

Blaise had stared at him for a while before sighing and then climbing into bed, Draco doing the same. However, Draco didn't go to sleep. He made sure that everyone else was asleep before getting out of bed and then going where he usually went late at night - to talk to Myrtle. What he didn't know was that Pansy had been waiting for him - she had wanted to find out where he had been going so late at night.

So, when she saw Draco leaving the Slytherin common room, she quickly - but quietly - followed him...to the bathrooms.

She knew she couldn't go into the male bathroom and she had just been about to leave when she heard the faint sound of Draco talking. Her curiousity got the better of her and she quietly walked into the bathroom and hid herself.

"You're beginning to come here a lot more." Myrtle pointed out as she watched Draco, who just shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I need someone to talk to about these things."

"And what about your friends?" She asked, then raised an eyebrow when she saw the face the student made at the mention of his friends. She didn't press on it, though, knowing Draco would talk about it when he was ready. Soon their silence was broken by Draco asking a question, "Did your friends ever talk about you behind your back? I mean, when you were-"

" _Alive_?"

Draco nodded.

"I didn't really have friends, but people did talk about me behind my back. And to my face." She moved away from Draco, but kept her eyes on him. "I was the victim of bullying, but I'm sure you already knew that."

"I'm sure _everyone_ knew that," Draco muttered.

Myrtle narrowed her eyes just slightly before moving around the bathroom. "You'd know all about bullying, wouldn't you, Draco? You done it the entire time you were here. Do you know how many times first years came into this bathroom and cried and cried, cursing your name with everything they could think of?"

"..."

"I lost count after a while."

Well that didn't make Draco feel better at all. He had came here to talk to Myrtle, to get things off his chest...not for her to remind him of all the times he had been an ass. As if she knew what she had said wrong, Myrtle apologized before stopping in front of Draco, just simply watching his facial expressions. "Still sending letters to your mother?" She asked after a while, deciding to change the subject.

"Yes. I think she would get worried if I stopped sending them. More worried than she is right now, that is." He muttered. "She's happy that I came back here, you know. She insisted that it would be good for me. I've lost track of how many times I've wanted to leave already."

"If you want to leave, why don't you?"

Draco didn't answer that right away.

Normally, the first thing that would come to mind was his mother - that he was staying to stop her from worrying. But now he didn't know why he was staying, especially when he was being asked about the mark that had faded not long after Voldemort was gone. Not when other students were giving him Sleeping Draughts and making him trip up. Though, thankfully, things hadn't gotten any worse than that, and he hoped it stayed that way.

"I'm staying here for my mother," was what Draco had eventually said. "If I'm here, she's not worrying about me as much - she already worries enough about my father, she doesn't need to worry about me too."

Myrtle nodded, watching Draco once again, admiring him. She let out a sigh, which had caught Draco's attention and he rasied an eyebrow as he looked at her. "You should take care of yourself more, Draco." She said as she got closer to him, which made the Slytherin student slightly uncomfortable. "You don't look good at all, perhaps you should go to bed. I wouldn't want you to get ill."

Ah.

Draco had forgetten that Myrtle had a crush on him.

He had figured it out a while back with the way she would flirt with him and look at him, and sometimes even the way she would talk to him. Draco never mentioned anything about it though, he was just glad he had someone he could to about this sort of stuff because he definitely couldn't talk to any of the professors or his so-called friends. And he definitely wasn't going to talk to his mother about it.

"Alright fine, I'll go to bed. Thank you for-"

"Don't thank me, I always enjoy hearing you talk and being able to comfort you." She said with a smile, watching as Draco left the bathroom.

Moments before Draco had left, Pansy had quickly left so she wouldn't get caught. However, as she was making her way back to the common room, she had bumped into Harry, who had also decided to do some late night wandering. As she walked past him, she noticed that he was holding that stupid map of his - the one that tracked where Witches and Wizards were.

She didn't even think about why he had the map as she went back to bed as quickly as she could.

Draco, however, had thought about why he had the map - having bumped into him perhaps five minutes after Pansy had. He had glared at the bespectacled Gryffindor before then glaring at the map, not letting his slight panic show as he made his way back to the common room, muttering something about "the stupid Boy Wonder".

He climbed into bed after that, glad to see that the other male students were still sleeping. Of course, he had no idea that Pansy had been following him, or why Potter had even been out of bed. All he was thinking about was his mother now and what Myrtle had said to him. And then he was thankful that he actually had _someone_ to talk to about this sort of stuff, knowing that it wouldn't be going any further.

At least that's what he thought.

What Draco didn't know was that confessing and opening up to Myrtle about everything would be yet another huge mistake he had made.

* * *

 **Footnotes.**

 **1) Byron Miller is an actual Slytherin student at Hogwarts, but he was only shown in the Prisoner of Azkaban (the video game) and he could be seen walking outside in the courtyard.  
**

 **2) I made it so that there are still certain things that get to Draco - certain things that make him angry, like people asking about him arm and that sort of stuff. I might have read that somewhere actually, or I might have just been imagining it, I don't exactly know I have a really bad memory.**

 **3)** **Ossis Effergo is the bone-breaking curse, and I got it from the Harry Potter Fanon Wikia. It seems to be very popular, which is why I decided to use it.  
**

 **I think...that's it for the footnotes just now, I'm not too sure.**

 **Harry, Ron, Hermione - all of the Gryffindors will be brought into this fic more in the next chapter because I have something planned for the next chapter. I realized I didn't write much about any of those students, but I am going to in the next chapter, I definitely am because I need to bring them into it more. =w=;;**

 **But um, yes! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'm sorry if it's bad at some parts or if there are spelling mistakes and whatnot - it WAS written at 2 AM, and I was very, very tired after a long day of college. When I get back from college, I'll make sure to go over this chapter and see if there is any errors and such - if there is, I'll make sure to fix them then!  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I surprised myself with even updating this early, to be honest!**

 **I didn't think I would be updating this quick (it's quick for me, usually I take months to update a story), and I did have the plan that I was going to write half of a chapter on a Wednesday and then finish it on a Friday - because those are my days off - but I was able to finish this chapter today, which I am really happy about!**

 **Since I can get a chapter done in one day, I might start doing a chapter on the days that I don't have college and also on the weekend. Because I do have everything planned out as I've mentioned before, it's just finding the time to do it, but if I can do it in a day, then I won't have a problem.**

 **Oh, but I am sorry if this chapter does seem a little rushed near the end or if there are mistakes and whatnot (just like the last chapter), when I was writing this, it was four in the morning and I had to be up in a few hours for college, so I _did_ kind of rushed it towards the end. I will obviously check it again when I get home from college, and if there are any mistakes and whatnot, I'll fix them then.**

 **Also! I now have the books because a lovely friend of mine bought me them just the other day, I've got them all, so I plan on reading them as soon as I can. It's probably going to take me a while because of college, just like it's gonna take me a while to update this (maybe). But yes, I now have the books and plan on reading them very soon!**

 **But anyway! Thank you for reading and I hope you like this chapter!**

* * *

Harry hadn't told anyone about the night he saw Pansy and Draco returning to the Slytherin common room - not even Ron or Hermione, and those two were his best friends.

Well...he didn't tell anyone _right away_.

He had decided to keep it to himself because he didn't really know what had happened anyway, so he couldn't exactly tell anyone because all he would be able to tell them was that he saw them going back to their common room. Harry didn't even know why or when he had started making his way towards that bathroom. He couldn't sleep, so he had just decided to take a wander around the castle and he had taken the map to watch for any of the professors - he might be eighteen, but he still didn't want to get caught by any professors and get points taken from their house.

For some reason, he had just been drawn to the bathroom, but before he could really do anything, Pansy had been bumping into him and then Draco had been too. And after standing there for a few minutes wondering what had happened, he finally went back to bed.

It was a week later when Harry had told his friends of what had happened. All of his friends.

It was actually an accident, he hadn't meant to say anything, but Seamus had been talking about how Ginny had overheard Pansy and Draco talking, and it had just sort of _slipped out_. Of course, he was immediately hit with question after question from the others, things like "what happened?" "what did you see?" and, of course, "why didn't you tell us sooner?"

Harry just simply replied to most of them with "I don't know".

What he didn't know was that Seamus had been planning on trying to get Pansy to talk about Draco and what sort of things he had been doing late at night, assuming she knew. Now that he actually knew that Pansy knew what Draco was doing, he was going to go through with his plan and get her to tell them a few things.

...which was why a few hours later, Harry was brewing a Veritaserum potion with Ron, Dean, and Seamus standing at the table and watching him. Hermione was there too, but they were all pretty sure it was just so she could remind them how much of a bad idea it was.

Did they listen?

Of course they didn't.

"Tell us again what happened." Seamus said after a while and Harry sighed, trying his best to keep his concentration on just making the potion.

"I've already said I don't know." He muttered, then hesitated a little before continuing to talk. He figured he should tell them what he did know. "I was just wandering around because I couldn't sleep, somehow I ended up at the bathrooms. Next thing I know, Pansy and Malfoy are bumping into me-"

"So they were together?"

"Well...no. It looked like Pansy was trying to get away before Malfoy could notice her."

"And that didn't make you want to find out what had been going on?" Ron asked.

"No, it _had_. I just wasn't going to find out about it."

"See, why can't you three be more like Harry?" Hermione finally spoke up again, walking over to them. "Stop being so nosy all the time. If Pansy _and_ Draco finds out about this, you're going to be in a lot of trouble."

Harry figured it would be best not to tell Hermione that he now wanted to find out just as badly as his friends did, it would only make her more upset with them. He gave her a small smile and then watched as she left after a few more minutes, saying she would much rather be doing some studying.

"We're not going to do this right away, we have to wait.

" _We_?" Ron smirked at his friend.

Harry gave him a look that told him to shut up before leaving the room. He was excited and eager to find out what was going on, but at the same time...he knew this was a bad idea and that in the end, someone was going to probably end up hurt.

But, he was still going to go through with it.

.

.

.

It was a month later when they were finally ready to go through with their plan.

Normally they would have done it much sooner, but they had gotten distracted with classes and there had been a Quidditch match that had also distracted them. Plus, it took a while for Veritaserum to be brewed correctly. They would have actually forgotten about it if it hadn't of been for Ginny. She had been the one to remind them - they didn't know how she knew until she said that Hermione had let it slip while talking about how much of a bad idea it was.

They decided that they were going to do it during dinner, it was probably the best time to do it. They just had to figure out how to do it _before_ dinner. Luckily, Hermione had thought ahead, knowing that they would only be able to do it one way. During the month, Hermione had been brewing a Polyjuice Potion - another reason why it had taken so long for them to actually go through with their plan.

When it was ready, she told the others the plan she had. Ginny was going to be Millicent. When asked why Ginny had to be the one to do it, Hermione simply said that she didn't want anything to do with it, and that the Polyjuice Potion was the only thing she was going to help with. And when they had everything they needed, including a stand of Millicent's hair, no one asked how Hermione had gotten it, the potion was handed over to Ginny, who took it reluctantly.

After everything else was done, like knocking Millicent out with a spell and hiding her after taking her robes, Ginny was given the Veritaserum and then finally made her way to the Great Hall during dinner. She made sure to sit down next to Pansy, who looked at her immediately. "Where have you been?"

"Bathroom," she immediately said. "...where's Draco?"

Pansy scowled when asked that, looking back down at her plate of food. "Probably in the common room, or the library. I don't know, and at this point, I don't care."

"Do you really think I believe that you don't care?" Ginny asked after a moment of silence. Everyone knew how Pansy felt towards Draco, whether they were in the same house or not. "You've cared about him for years, and now you're suddenly going to say that you don't care? That's odd even for you, Pansy. Did something happen between you?"

"...no, nothing's happened. I just don't understand him sometimes."

Ginny watched her, then glanced over to her friends at the Gryffindor table, who were already watching and trying their best not to laugh. She let out a quiet huff and turned back to the Slytherin table, beginning to eat when she realized Pansy wasn't going to say anything else. At this rate, she wasn't going to be able to put the Veritaserum in her drink.

As if knowing what she was thinking, the group at the Gryffindor table tried to think of some way to get Pansy's attention so Ginny could put the potion in the drink. After a few minutes, Seamus finally got an idea. He turned to face the Slytherin table. "Where's your boyfriend today, Parkinson?" He teased, immediately grinning when she turned to look at him, glaring sharply.

"He's not my boyfriend, so shut up with that already." She ground out between grit teeth, completely unaware as Ginny finally poured the poiton into her drink while her back was turned.

"I bet you want him to be, though." Seamus continued to tease. "Everyone has seen the way you look at him and the way you follow him around like a puppy. You're lost without him, you all are."

Pansy would have gotten up to hit him then and there, but 'Millicent' brought her attention away from them and back to her food. A 'thank you' was muttered before the older Slytherin started eating again, occasionally stopping to take a sip of her drink. The entire time, Ginny stayed there. However, when she started to turn back to herself, she had to quickly get up and leave.

This only sparked both curiousity and worry in Pansy, so she got up to follow her. But what she didn't know was that the group of Gryffindor friends, all except Harry because he was off helping Luna with something, also followed. She was only aware of them when she was pushed into a classroom and shoved down into a chair, Seamus putting his hand on her shoulder to keep her in place.

Dean decided to keep watch while Ron done the talking. "Where has Malfoy been wandering off to at night?"

It was obvious that Pansy had tried so hard to fight back against the Veritaserum, but she soon couldn't hold back. "The prefects bathroom."

"Why?"

"To talk to that moaning ghost."

Dean looked over at that, eyebrow raised. "Moaning Myrtle?"

"Apparently he has more trust in her than he does with his own friends," she grumbled, and that was all it took for her to talk without being asked questions. "Every night he goes to see her, but _we_ were the ones who helped him, not _her_! I would feel much better if he had even turned to Crabbe - but _Moaning Myrtle_?! That's just stupid. Everyone knows she can't keep a secret."

"Do you know exactly what they've been talking about?"

"No, I always hide myself just outside the bathroom so I'm not caught. I can never hear what's being said."

That meant they now had to go to Moaning Myrtle, but she didn't exactly like Ron, and they weren't too sure how she felt about Seamus and Dean. The only other person she liked was...well, it was Harry.

They left Pansy alone after that, and decided to go back to the Great Hall for the time being. Luckily for them, Harry was going to the Great Hall just as they were, chatting away to Luna. "Harry!" Ron walked up to him, saying hello to Luna before turning to his best friend. Seamus, Dean, and Luna left them alone to finish dinner. "We found out why Malfoy has been going to the bathroom - apparently he's been talking to Moaning Myrtle every night. But Pansy didn't know why, so we need your help-"

"You want me to talk to Moaning Myrtle, don't you?"

"Well, you're the one she has a crush on, mate."

Harry groaned as he was reminded of that, but reluctantly agreed to go to the prefects bathroom.

It seemed he wouldn't be getting dinner tonight.

.

.

.

When they arrived at the prefects bathroom, Myrtle immediately asked if it was Draco, then made a face when she saw it was Ron and Harry. The crush she had on Harry wasn't as nearly as big as the one she had on Draco. "What do you want?" She asked.

"Well, we wanted to know what Malfoy has been talking to you about-"

"Oh no, I'm not telling you that. That's a secret."

Harry stared at her and then let out a sigh, trying to think of some way that he could convince her to talk about it. It wasn't like he could use Veritaserum on a ghost, and besides, that takes a long time to brew - he wanted to do this right now so he could try and get at least something to eat before bed. "...what do I have to do to get you to tell us?"

"Start visiting me more often, for one."

"Alright, it's a promise. What else?"

Myrtle hummed softly in thought, then finally moved closer to Harry, who just stared back at her. "Be more kind to me, and tell that Granger girl to be more nice to me too. But mostly you, I want you to compliment me and tell me how nice I look every time you come visit me."

"Okay-"

"Starting right now."

Harry sighed and then hesitated before speaking again. "You look lovely today, Myrtle. I'm sorry for not visiting you more often, I can't wait to see you more."

Thankfully, Myrtle seemed pleased with that because she immediately spilled everything Draco had told her. She told them about how he had been feeling, how the other students had been making him feel, how unwanted he felt. She told them how Draco thought returning to Hogwarts was a bad idea, and the only reason he was there was to stop his mother from worrying so much. She even told them that every day, Draco would send a letter to his mother and always get a letter in return.

She told them _everything_ , just like she said she would. And when she had stopped, she made sure they promised that they wouldn't tell anyone that they had found out from her.

They promised her and then left the bathroom, going back to the Great Hall where they informed their friends of the new information, and Harry also _finally_ got some dinner. But after what he had just found out, he hadn't really been that hungry anymore once they reached the Great Hall.

* * *

Things were still like a living Hell for Draco. Almost in every class he went into, he was either pranked or someone decided to curse him. But after a while, he no longer cared. Yet the other students didn't give up and they done everything they possibly could to the older Slytherin student. Really, the only times he had gotten angry at the other students was when some of them insulted his family, especially his mother.

They had to spend a week in the hospital wing when Draco was done with them - which he was proud of, despite getting more points taken off of their house. However, losing points was something that upset him, and he knew it was stupid.

But usually he was the one getting the points, not losing them. However, the other houses lost points too whenever he got in a fight with one from a certain house or when a professor found out they had been cursing Draco.

His friends didn't seem to care about the points.

Draco had actually started talking to them again after a while. Or well, he had started talking to Millicent, Crabbe, and Blaise. He had tried to talk to Pansy, but most of the time she would say she had somewhere to be, or she wouldn't look at him. And whenever they _did_ talk it was always the simple "how are you?" and that was it. He had apologized a few times for acting the way he did, thinking that might be the problem.

But even when his friend had forgiven him, she still didn't talk to him much.

Of course, what he didn't know was that they reason Pansy wasn't talking to him was because of what she had said to Ron, Dean, and Seamus. It wasn't like she could have helped it though, she had been under the influence of a truth serum - she hadn't been able to lie!

Eventually, Draco had decided to let Pansy be, knowing she would talk to him in her own time. She would talk to him when she was ready.

Today was not that day.

However, today, Draco was cursed and pranked much more than he usually was - but he still tried to act as if it didn't bother him. The first three classes had been Hell, but he didn't react to anything. But, when their third class was over and they were taking a break, Draco made his way up to the Owlery to send a letter to his mother, explaining what was happening, how he was feeling - that sort of thing.

The usual thing he spoke to her about.

Talking to his mother about this stuff helped him, and he still spoke to Myrtle about it, not knowing what she had done. It was comforting, and it was helping Draco cope. Because while he wanted to leave, he knew he couldn't, because it would only make his mother worry. And she was already worrying enough, which is why whenever he had thought that he could leave Hogwarts whenever he wanted, he always told himself to just stay there.

He had lost count of how many times he had thought about leaving, but every time, Draco decided not to.

And it wasn't really that bad...once he pushed away the bullying and the nightmares, and everything else that was bad. He still had his friends and he was doing well in his classes, that was all he wanted to think about right now. However, it had been three months since they had all arrived at Hogwarts, he just hoped the bullying would stop soon.

He was sure they would get tired of it eventually, and that it would stop.

* * *

Draco thought wrong.

Two more months had passed and the bullying still hadn't stopped.

However, while the bullying hadn't stopped, he noticed that something had - his mother's letters. It had been two months since her last letter and now Draco was the one worrying. He still sent one every day in hopes that she would reply, but she never did. He hadn't really noticed it at first because he just assumed she was busy or focusing more on his father.

But after a few weeks, that was when he started to get more and more worried.

He spoke to Myrtle about it, of course, who simply said in return that she was probably busy and that Draco was just most likely overthinking things, and he agreed with her. And when he thanked her for listening and comforting him, it was then that Myrtle thought she should tell Draco what she had done. But before she could, Draco was leaving the bathroom and returning to the common room.

Despite what Myrtle said, Draco still sent letters to his mother. Now it wasn't only the nightmares keeping him up at night, not hearing from his mother was also keeping him up, imaging the worst had happened.

Sometimes he was even sending letters twice a day before he remembered what Myrtle had said about him overthinking things, and then he left it alone for a while to go to classes or to get something to eat.

His mother would get back to him eventually, he was sure of that. She wouldn't have just decided to...stop talking to him.

.

.

.

Today, Draco had accidentally slept in incredibly late, despite having classes. He had stayed up all night worrying himself, and he didn't get to sleep until very very late. Which was how he ended up sleeping up until so late. And when he got up, he was reluctant as he climbed himself out of bed and got himself ready for the rest of the day.

He could have probably stayed in bed for the rest of the day, but decided not to. He knew it would only cause his friends to ask him what was wrong, and that wasn't something he needed.

Before going to the Great Hall, he went to the Owlery and sent a letter to his mother that he had already written last night. And he stayed there for longer than he should have before finally making his way back down and finally going to the Great Hall. He hadn't even walked in the doors when he noticed how pretty much everyone was surrounding the Gryffindor table.

Everyone except a few Slytherins - which included Millicent, Crabbe, Pansy, and Blaise.

He had just been about to go over to his friends and ask what was going on when he noticed that when he walked into the Hall, everyones eyes from the Gryffindor table immediately went to him, some of them even laughing. It made Draco curious and also uneasy, so he tried to ignore it as he walked to his friends and sitting down.

He tried hard not to pay any attention to the other students as he spoke with his friends, his name being whispered didn't bother him. However, when he heard something that he didn't expect to hear, he quickly turned to face the Gryffindor table.

"Oh, I've got a good one!" Seamus laughed as he held up paper, waving it around a little to get the attention of the other students before then beginning to read off of it.

"Draco," he started, putting on his best woman voice.

"If you wish to return home at any time, you know you can. I know that the reason you're staying at Hogwarts is so I don't worry, but honestly, I'm just even more worried about you while you're there. Your father and I would be fine with you back home, if it would make you happier, then please come back. Don't put yourself through the pain of the bullying and the nightmares you're having-"

Seamus wasn't even able to get through it all because all of the students, himself included, started laughing as he tried his best to read the letter. Ron was next to read one, doing the exact same voice Seamus had done.

"Draco,

I'm very worried about you. From what you wrote in your last letter, it seems like your nightmares are getting worse as well as the bullying. I wish you would come back, or at least talk to someone. Talking to someone would help, someone other than me - someone who can actually help. Why don't you even try making some more friends. I'm sure that could help too."

Ron couldn't get through his complete letter either because someone was soon grabbing it off him - that someone being Draco himself. He stared at the letter, then looked at the other ones on the table - all of the letters his mother had sent him in the past two months were spread out on the table, some of them were open, others weren't.

And Draco didn't know how to react.

He was angry, of course he was. But he was also very upset about this.

Almost every student in the entire school now knew how he felt about the bullying, how he felt about being back at Hogwarts. They knew about his nightmares. They probably knew everything, and Draco didn't know what to do about it. He didn't know if there _was_ anything he could do about it.

He had been searching through the letters, searching for ones that hadn't been opened, but when he heard the laughter of the other students again, he immediately stopped. Would he seem like a coward if he turned away and left right now? Should he stay and actually do something, find out where and how they had gotten their hands on _his_ letters?

Everyone probably knew about how... _weak_ he was now all of because of the letters. No one was going to let him live this down - they were all going to make fun of him every day and they would probably keep the letters to remind Draco.

Because that's how much people hated Draco and wanted to see him suffer. They wanted payback for everything he had done and they would make sure they got it.

Thinking about it more and more soon got him torn with his own emotions. He couldn't let anyone know that this had actually upset him, but as his hurt was growing, so was his anger. But he knew that if he done something out of anger, it wouldn't end well for anyone.

He pulled his gaze away from the letters and then looked around the table before looking to Weasley and his stupid friend - the one that blows things up, he still didn't know his name. "You'll pay for this," he hissed, and when they both just simply laughed, Draco swiftly turned and left, pushing past Hermione and Harry on his way out.

This wasn't supposed to be happening. He was _Draco Malfoy_ , people weren't supposed to laugh at him, they were supposed to cower in fear from himself and his family! People were supposed to be scared to talk to him, to even sit next to him!

But that's now how things were. People were laughing at him, mocking him and his family, they were calling him weak. They were calling him a traitor. They were doing anything they could think of to bring Draco down, but that wasn't what got to him. What got to him was that a place he had once considered a home, despite what everyone thought, was no longer as safe as he had once thought it to be.

Everywhere he turned, everyone was against him.

And it was now that he realized perhaps coming back to Hogwarts after everything that had happened, could quite possibly be the second worst mistake he had ever made.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: So! I'm probably not going to update this fic as quick as I have been updating it right now (this was supposed to be uploaded two days ago, but the site was down for me for some odd reason). I need to start going to sleep at a normal time and not at...five or six in the morning, especially when I have college the next day. I'm going to try and start going to sleep at a normal time, meaning that I'm not going to be able to update as much as I have been. Plus when I get home from college, I always end up going for a nap, so I won't have time to upate it when I get back either. ;w;**

 **However!**

 **Just like I said I was going to do in one of the other chapters, I'm going to work on the start of the chapter on a Wednesday, finish it on a Thursday when I get home from college (and after my nap), or the Friday. And then I'll hopefully have another one up by Sunday because it'll be the weekend. And I'll try my best to work on this as much as I can during the weekends!  
**

 **But thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy this chapter!  
**

* * *

When they were pushed out of the way, both Harry and Hermione turned to watch Draco walk away before then looking back to the Great Hall and the Gryffindor table. Of course, Hermione was the first to walk over very quickly, the students from the other houses leaving.

Harry soon walked over, immediately noticing the letters on the table - they weren't that hard to miss anyway. He raised an eyebrow and picked up one up, seeing it was addressed to Draco, he then looked to Ron - who was currently getting an earful off of Hermione.

"What did I tell you about taking things too far?"

"It was just a joke, Hermione. I'm sure even Malfoy knows that-"

"It didn't look like he knew that!" She said quickly, eyebrows knitting together. "Besides, taking someone else's letters is _not_ a joke, Ron! Yes, he might have deserved a few harmless pranks, but this has just taken things too far and you need to stop." She looked at their friends, frowning. "All of you."

Since everyone was getting scolded by Hermione, no one noticed Harry sneaking out of the Great Hall in order to look for Draco. He had been searching for a while before he finally decided to check the Marauder's Map. He had an idea where the older Slytherin student might be, but he just wanted to make sure. Once he had checked the map, he sighed and then went to where Draco was.

The Astronomy Tower.

Once there, he slowly walked up the steps, then stopped when he saw Draco sitting on the ground near the balcony. He had just been about to speak up when Draco beat him to it.

"What do _you_ want?"

"...to talk."

Draco scoffed, standing up. "I don't want to talk, especially not to you."

"Listen, Malfoy. Taking your letters - it wasn't my idea, I didn't take part in it." At least, he didn't take part in the taking of Draco's letter, but he took part in everything else. "I mean, I did think you deserved some of the stuff that happened to you. But doing something like that, it's just taking things too far-" Another scoff stopped Harry from talking any further, and he just stared at the other, eyebrows raised.

"What are you trying to do, Potter? Why did you come here?"

"I told you, to talk."

"And I told you I don't want to talk, so why are you _still here_?"

The funny thing was, even Harry didn't know the answer to that.

He had went after Draco to let him know that he had no part in what had happened, and then he had planned on leaving. So...why didn't he? Why _was_ he still there, and why was he trying to get a conversation out of Draco?

He had been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't even realized that the other had left until it was too late, and he wasn't exactly going to go after him because well...that would just look weird.

Sighing, Harry made his way down the steps and headed back to the Great Hall, seeing his friends were all still sitting at the table, all of them staring at the letters. Harry walked over and sat down next to Ginny, giving her a small smile before then looking to Ron. "You know, when we spoke to Moaning Myrtle, I didn't think you were going to use the information to do this-"

"Wait," Hermione stared at her friend. "You got information from Moaning Myrtle? What kind of information?"

Harry knew there was no point in lying to her now, it would only make her even more angry. "About Malfoy. We used the truth serum on Pansy, who then told us that Malfoy had been talking to Moaning Myrtle almost every night about things. So Ron and I went to her to find out what he had been talking about."

"I can't believe you."

"We were curious-"

"So you decide to find out personal things? Would you like it if Draco done it with either of you?"

"Well, he wouldn't have to do it with me, everyone knows everything about me." Harry muttered, resting his chin on the palm of his hand. He then glanced down to the letters, and he had just been about to pick one up when McGonagall walked into the Great Hall and over to them. "Well, I'm surprised that Professor Slughorn was correct. He said he saw all of you taking letters from a Slytherin student." She reached down to pick one of them up to find out which Slytherin student they had been addressed to, then just stared at it when she saw it was addressed to Draco.

She looked to the Gryffindor students, then over to the Slytherin students, motioning Pansy over. When she had walked over, though reluctantly, she was asked to take the letters back to Draco, which she gladly done. McGonagall then turned to the Gryffindor students again. "50 points from Gryffindor for this little stunt of yours."

"But-"

"There will be no discussion about it." She said quickly before then leaving the Great Hall again.

"At this rate we're going to be tied in last place with Slytherin." Ron muttered, not thinking anyone had heard him. However, he thought wrong, because then Hermione was hitting the back of his head. "Maybe next time you won't be so stupid!"

Harry wasn't paying attention to his friends, still trying to think of why he had stayed in the Astronomy Tower with Malfoy longer than he should have. It wasn't like he exactly wanted to be friends with him. But...during the war, he did help, and he did say that he hadn't recognized Harry. At some point, he must have had a change of heart. He must have realized all of the mistakes he had made and decided to stop when he could.

But Harry wasn't exactly going to go up and ask him. He'd just have to...somehow start off slow.

Or, he could just forget about it all together.

That sounded like the better plan. What Malfoy was going through wasn't any of his business and Harry didn't have to help him.

.

.

.

Surprisingly, Malfoy hadn't shown up to any of the classes. Not even potions class, and that was definitely his favorite class. Or at least it had been.

There had been a few whispers about him not showing up to any of the classes, some of them wondering if what they had done had actually upset the Slytherin student that much, then they came to the conclusion that they didn't really care and he deserved it. And Harry tried to tell himself the same thing, he really did. But in the back of his mind, he wanted to search for him after class and he wanted to try and talk to him.

Talking was the best thing anyone could do.

Though, it was understandable if Malfoy didn't want to talk or open up to anyone after what had happened with both Pansy and Moaning Myrtle.

So Harry didn't search for him after class, trying to believe his own thoughts as he told himself over and over again that he didn't care and that Malfoy was old enough to look out for himself.

However, that night after classes and during dinner, Harry found himself looking over to the Slytherin table much more than he should have. Eventually, his friends noticed.

"Who are you looking for, Harry?" Ginny asked after a while, looking behind her to also look at the Slytherin table before then looking back to Harry. who shook his head and turned his attention back to his food. "No one."

"Don't tell me you're looking for Malfoy," Ron muttered.

"Of course I'm not!" Harry looked at his friend. "I was just staring off into space and happened to be looking at the Slytherin table. Why would I be looking for Malfoy anyway, Ron?"

Ron stared at Harry and then shrugged when he couldn't find an answer, beginning to stuff his face once more, both Ginny and Hermione making a face of disgust.

"I still don't know what you see in him."

"He's much better when he's not stuffing his face." Hermione muttered, then chuckled as she looked to Ginny. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Harry looking at the Slytherin table again, but she decided not to say anything about it. Whatever Harry was thinking about, it was clear he didn't want to talk about it.

But even Harry didn't know why he was looking over at the Slytherin table every few minutes, it just...kept happening.

Eventually, he just decided to focus on eating, laughing and talking with his friends. This was the only thing that mattered to Harry - he didn't care about house points, or other students. And he definitely didn't care about Malfoy. He had everything he needed or wanted right at this table, and that was enough to make him happy after everything that had happened.

.

.

.

After dinner and when everyone was back at their own common rooms and in bed, Harry was still awake and was laying in bed with the Marauder's Map open. He had actually just been planning on going to sleep, but as he got into bed, his mind went back to Malfoy and how no one had seen him at all after what had happened this morning. So, Harry had decided to check the map just to see where he was.

At first, he had stayed in the Slytherin common room, Harry assumed he was reading something, but after an hour or so, his name on the map finally started moving and it seemed like Malfoy was just simply wandering the castle for a few hours before he finally made his way to the Astronomy Tower once again. Harry couldn't help but wonder _why_ he kept going there - especially after what had happened.

And he had been tempted to get out of bed and go to the Astronomy Tower to talk to him, but then decided against it because he _did not care about Malfoy_. What he wanted to do was his own business, and Harry shouldn't be trying to find out what it was he was doing. No one should be trying to find that out.

So, with a sigh, he muttered "mischief managed" and then closed the map, setting it on the nightstand along with his glasses and wand before moving to get more comfortable so he could get to sleep. It took him longer than it should have, but he eventually fell asleep.

* * *

The next day, they had even more classes than yesterday, and both Harry and Ron would have just slept in if it hadn't of been for Neville waking them up for breakfast.

Plus, they didn't really want Hermione to yell at them for missing breakfast and classes just because they had slept in, so they were thankful Neville had woken them up.

As they walked into the Great Hall, Harry cast a glance over to the Slytherin table, seeing that Malfoy still wasn't there. He then looked away before anyone could notice him looking to the table, sitting down with his own friends, glad that Hermione wasn't _as_ mad at them about what had happened yesterday. However, she had told all of them to apologize to Malfoy and they had to do it while she was there. She also said that it didn't matter if he didn't accept the apology, what mattered is that they apologized.

Hermione had always been like that.

So far, no one had apologized, and it did seem like no one was going to apologize - it was like the lowest of lows, apologizing to a Slytherin, and it just _had_ to be Malfoy.

"You know, you're all going to have to apologize to him eventually." Hermione said after a while, looking between her friends, though both Seamus and Dean were missing - she assumed they were still sleeping. "It's better just to get it over and done with."

"We know that, Hermione. But it's the fact that it's Malfoy-"

"Well you should have thought things through then. Or rather, you shouldn't have done it at all."

Ron went quiet and just focused on eating when Hermione said that, and normally he would have said something in return, but the look she was giving him knew that now was not the time to talk back to his girlfriend. However, he did give Harry a look that said "it was fun, though", and Harry just smiled before beginning to eat so Hermione wouldn't see.

Angering Hermione _again_ was not something he wanted to do. Actually, no one wanted to anger her.

Things went quiet between the group of friends after that, but the silence wasn't for long, because soon Ginny was quickly walking into the Hall and over to them. They all immediately had their attention on her. "Ginny, what's wrong?" Harry asked.

"There's a fight out in the courtyard."

"Between who?" Hermione asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know, but apparently it's getting pretty bad. No one's trying to stop it."

Hermione immediately got up at that, following Ginny to the courtyard and asking her a few questions. Ron and Harry stayed at the table however, giving each other a look before they got up as quickly as they made their way to the courtyard. When it came to fights, everyone wanted to watch it and everyone wanted to see who would win. Sometimes people even tried to help.

It was just a normal thing that happend.

However, when they got there, that hadn't really expected to see a very, very large crowd there - they had just expected it to be a small group of students. But it wasn't, and the trio had to push their way past the students just to see who it was that was stupid enough to fight in school grounds. It was none other than Seamus and...well, it looked like Malfoy, but they couldn't be sure. Other students kept getting in their way whenever they tried to get a good look.

But despite that, they were the first ones to leave when they heard the voices of Professors Flitwick and Trelawney - the trio knew it was best if they were the ones to leave first after what had happened yesterday, knowing that McGonagall would be showing up soon.

"Did any of you see who Seamus was fighting?" Hermione eventually asked as they headed back to the Gryffindor common room to get a few books before classes started.

Ron shook his head. "I didn't see it, everyone else kept getting in the bloody way. But I thought I saw-"

"Malfoy?" Harry looked at his friends. "You weren't the only one. We'll just have to ask Seamus."

"Knowing him, he'll just want to talk about how he won and how he didn't feel anything."

Hermione rolled her eyes when Ron said that, looking between her friends. "All boys and men must be like that then, because the both of you were when I first met you." She said with a smile, grabbing her books from the nearby table where she had placed them earlier. Then, she left, leaving Harry and Ron to stare at where she had just stood. They then quickly followed after her, demanding to know of the times they had acted like that.

.

.

.

The trio had been right about two things.

The first thing was that Seamus did just want to talk about how he won and didn't back down. The second was that it _had_ been Malfoy he had gotten into a fight with.

They had only just found out between their first and second class, and now Seamus was just going on about how great he had been.

"-didn't stand a chance from the beginning." Seamus said with a grin, despite having a few bruises and cuts on his face. "He should have just given up."

"You keep telling us this, Seamus, but why did you actually get into a fight with him? Who started it?"

Seamus looked at Ginny when she asked that, the youngest Weasley having tagged along on the walk with her friends. He then shrugged. "I don't know, I was talking to Dean and the next think I knew, he was standing in front of me with his wand pointed at me. Luckily, he was focusing more on using spells to do more damage, but fists work the best."

"Well he must have caught on, you look worse than you usually do." Harry joked to lighten the mood a little.

"You should see how he looks. Believe me, he looks much worse than I currently do."

"You shouldn't sound so proud of yourself," Hermione muttered.

"He deserved it-"

"Stop saying that!" Hermione abruptly stopped in front of the group, frowning. "Stop saying that he deserves certain things. He knew what he would be getting himself into if he came back here, yet he _still came back_ and he still takes everything you give him." She looked between the group of boys. " _All of you_. You should be ashamed of yourselves, you're supposed to be adults now, yet you're still acting like immature children."

The group watched in silence as their brunette friend swiftly turned away from them to go to class, Ginny following at her side.

They didn't even say anything about that, instead they also just went to class. And no one of them were surprised to see that Malfoy had once again not shown up to none of the classes. Though, Seamus did mutter something about him probably still being with McGonagall - the two of them having been taken to her office when she came out to the courtyard. It was then that Seamus brought up the fact that they had lost 50 more points.

Ron seemed just slightly bothered by it, but Harry hadn't been paying attention at all.

All he could think about was what Hermione had said and just how true it was.

Why would Malfoy return if he knew what was going to happen? It didn't make any sense, and it wasn't like he could just go up and ask him. He'd have to apologize first, and that was something he would do soon.

* * *

As classes went on throughout the day, all he could think about was how he was going to apologize to Malfoy and _when_ he was going to do it.

In the end, he decided he would do it the next time he saw Malfoy. So, when he didn't see Malfoy in any more classes or at the Great Hall after the classes, he was happy about it because he didn't have to apologize then and there. But he was also...a little upset about it too because he would have liked to apologize _right there_ , just to get it over with.

He was sure that if he was the first to apologize, the others would then do the same. He just had to...find Malfoy first.

And eventually he did.

The group of friends had decided to go to The Three Broomsticks, which was Seamus' suggestion. At the suggestion, their group had gotten more numbers, not that Harry minded. He loved spending time with all of their friends and because of recent events, he hadn't really been able to do that as much.

They saw Draco and his group of friends at The Three Broomsticks, but they weren't going to let them ruin their fun, and they did have fun. Well, Harry did up until a certain point in the night where he was sitting at a table with just Ron and Hermione, the others were all standing over somewhere else, and Harry would have joined them...had Hermione not asked him to stay at the table.

He enjoyed spending time with just Ron and Hermione, but now that those two were dating, he tended to feel like a third wheel sometimes.

However, in order to take his mind off of his two friends, he started looking around before his eyes landed on Draco's table, watching them. And when it got later into the night, Pansy, Crabbe, Millicent, and Blaise all left - but Draco didn't. And Harry couldn't help but wonder if now would be a good time to apologize, or to even talk to the Slytherin student. From what Harry could see, he looked pretty drunk.

When Hermione and Ron weren't looking in his direction, Harry moved away from their table and slowly made his way over to where Draco was sitting at the back of the pub. He had his chin resting in the palm of his hand and his eyes closed when Harry sat down, but he still spoke up. "Unless you're going to buy me something to drink, leave me alone."

"Don't you think you've had enough to drink?" Harry asked, and he was asking a genuine question. From what he could see and hear, the other looked like he couldn't even keep his eyes open _and_ his speech was slurred.

But all Harry could think about was how rare it was to see Draco drunk.

Actually, it wasn't so much the fact that he was drunk. It was the fact that he was vulnerable, and Draco just didn't seem to care.

Draco opened his eyes slowly to look at Harry as he leaned back in his chair, and it was then that Harry was finally able to see how he looked after the fight with Seamus. And he certainly did look a lot worse than his friend, but Harry didn't say anything about it. "What do you want, Potter?"

"To-..." He had been about to say 'to talk' but stopped himself when he remembered how Draco had gotten when he wanted to talk last time. That, and the blond looked as if he wouldn't be able to stay awake any longer. "You should go back to the castle."

"Don't tell me what to do."

"Don't make me drag you back." It had left Harry's mouth before he could even try and stop it. He didn't even know where it had came from, it had just sort of slipped out. But all he could think about was if Draco stayed and passed out at the table with Harry's group of friends nearby, especially Seamus, it wouldn't end well.

Draco hadn't been thinking of how weird that sounded because what he said next was, "You wouldn't dare touch me."

But that was exactly what Harry done once he had gotten out of his chair. He had walked around to Draco, grabbed his right arm and pulled him to his feet...and then was immediately pushed away by the older male. He apologized to him and then remembered that wasn't the only thing he had to apologize for, but he would have to find the right moment to actually bring it up.

On their way back to the castle was definitely not a good time to do it because it was already awkward with Harry walking a very drunk Draco back to the castle, sometimes even having to stop because Draco kept tripping over his own feet. However, once they were back at the castle and Harry was making sure Draco got to the Slytherin common room without hurting himself more, that was when he had been planning on apologizing. And just as he had opened his mouth to apologize, Draco was already talking and all Harry could do was listen.

"You know, I didn't come back here because _I_ wanted to. I came back because my mother wanted me to."

Harry didn't know what to say to that because it was odd having Draco talk to him as if he were...a friend.

"She said it would be good for me, but so far I've been pranked, cursed, lost my trust in my friends, had my letters stolen, been beaten up, and had my parents insulted. I don't see how this is good for me." He slurred, and Harry assumed that Seamus was the one who had insulted his family - why else would Draco have fought back?

"You know, about the letter incident, I wanted to apologize for it."

"Is that why you came over to the table? To apologize?"

"That, and you looked pretty lonely." Harry muttered when they were outside of the Slytherin dungeon and he heard Draco scoff softly, his back turned to him now.

"Being lonely is something I've gotten used to," he muttered before leaving Harry's sight as he walked into the Slytherin dungeon, and Harry just kind of stood there. He could have guessed that Draco felt lonely sometimes, but he didn't know that he was so lonely that he had gotten used to it. And Harry didn't know what to do with that information.

But that night when everyone else had returned from The Three Broomsticks and they were all in bed, Harry was still awake, looking at the map once again and staying up later than he should have because of it. He kept telling himself he was doing it just because he couldn't sleep, but in the back of his mind he knew it was because a small part of him didn't want to see Draco wandering the castle again - especially when he was drunk.

And he couldn't help but wonder that night as he finally settled down to sleep - would Draco even remember what he had said? And if he did, what was going to happen?


End file.
